1927 The Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide Page: 49

THE TEXAS ALMANAC. 49

half billion board-feet of lumber annually,
and keeps Texas usually in sixth or sev-
enth place among the States in the mat-
ter of lumber production. There are about
17,000,000,000 board-feet of pine lumber
left standing and about 8,000,000,000
board-feet of hardwoods. During recent
years efforts are being made with a view
to conserving a lumber producing area in
this section of the State. The shortleaf
belt covers approximately the northern
two-thirds of this belt, the longleaf cov-
ers a comparatively small, but densely
wooded area, including about five or six
counties in the territory just below the
middle of the belt and the loblolly pine
belt lies between this and the coast and
to the southwest of the longleaf belt.
Northeast Texas.
In the shortleaf area the standing vir-
gin pine area is small. It has long been
the location of a lumber industry, and the
lands after being cleared of their timber
have proven excellent for crop growing
purposes. The soils are generally of two
kinds, the sandy lands on the uplands
and the rich alluvials in the valleys of
the many streams which traverse this sec-
tion. The rainfall is normally the heaviest
in Texas, ranging from forty-five or more
inches annually in the extreme south-
eastern part of the belt down to about
thirty-eight inches in the northern part
of the area. The climate varies from al-
most subtropical in the south to a warm
temperate in the north. The altitude va-
ries from about 40 or 50 feet elevation
where the timber belt joins the coastal
plain on the south to approximately 400
feet along the extreme western edge and
in the northwestern part. Along the west-
ern fringe of this belt is a territory cov-
ered with post oak and other hardwoods,
but having a soil similar to that of the
pine area.
The northern end of the East sdexas
timber belt is well settled; farms are
usually small and there are numerous
cities and towns ranging up to about 20,-
000 population in some instances.
The southern end of the belt is not so
densely settled. Here the forests are still
heaviest, and in some of the deep sandy
sections of the longleaf belt attempts will
undoubtedly be made in the future to
maintain a lumber industry instead of
encouraging agriculture. However, there
is much fertile land in this area and it is
destined to great agricultural expansion.
Diversity of Crops.
The northern end of the belt is prima-
rily a producer of cotton and corn at
present, but during recent years there has
been a rapid expansion of the various
truck and orchard crops. With its sandy,
clay subsoil resources, mild winters and
abundant rainfall, probably East Texas'
greatest asset is its adaptability to di-
versified farming. It is not possible to
grow winter crops as in the Rio Grande
Valley, but crops may be put on the mar-
ket very early in the spring. The soils
and climate are especially adapted to pro-
duction of tomatoes, melons, blackberries,
strawberries, onions, sweet potatoes, sor-
ghum and cane for syrup, peaches, beans
and peas and miscellaneous other crops.
At present there is a commercial move-
ment of several thousand cars annually
from this territory, consisting principally
of peaches, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and
melons, but including half. a dozen other
products.

Near Markets.
This territory also has a considerable
advantage in the matter of availability of
market. Aside from being closer to the
great Northern and Eastern populous cen-
ters than any other truck crop growing
section of Texas. East Texas is literally
rimmed with growing cities. On its west
lie Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Corsicana
and Austin. Houston, ,Beaumont, Port
Arthur and Orange. lie on its southern
border. Across its border in Louisiana is
Shreveport, and the cities of Arkansas and
Oklahoma are not far distant on the
northeast and north.
The principal difficulty with the suc-
cessful operation of a large scale truck
growing industry in the past in Texas has
been the lack of market facilities. North-
ern and Eastern markets were distant and
frequently glutted by products from
other sections of the United States, and
there was no local market of appreciable
consuming capacity, because Texas was
largely a rural State. The extremely
rapid growth of Texas cities during the
last ten or fifteen years has done much
to open the way for truck farming de-
velopment in Texas. With the building
of several cities of 400,000 and 500,000 pop-
ulation on its borders, it should become a
veritable garden spot. Its resources for
food production are unlimited.
Tomato Industry.
The tomato growing industry of the
Jacksonville-Tyler section is typical of
what may be accomplished in this terri-
tory. About a quarter of a century ago a
few men began experimenting with to-
mato production for market in East
Texas. Gradually there has been built up
in this section a tomato growing business
that is one of the chief dependences of
the Nation for this vegetable during the
intermediate season between the ship-
ments from the early regions such as the
Rio Grande Valley, Florida and Califor-
nia and the later movement from the
Northern States.
The peach growing industry is wide-
spread and sends to market several hun-
dred cars annually with as heavy a
movement as 2,000 cas during good years.
The peach growing industry was started
in the '90s, ahead of good market facili-
ties, and it suffered a depression through-
out a number of years. During recent
years, however, there has been a revival
of interest and an increased movement.
It is one of the principal watermelon
growing sections of the United States.
The construction of many miles of good
roads during recent years has added ap-
preciably to the solution of the farmers
marketing problems.
The soils of East Texas are most pro-
ductive in their natural State in the al-
luvial bottoms, but it is probably in the
sandy uplands that the section's great fu-
ture as a crop producer lies, because the
texture of these soils and the abundant
rainfall creates a condition ideally adapt-
ed to fertilization and soil building. Just
what can be done with these soils during
recent years has been demonstrated in
the Cotton Contests conducted throughout
the State by The Dallas MIorning News
and The Semi-Weekly Farm News. More
than three bales to the acre of cotton
have been produced in several instances,
though less than one-third of a bale Is
the normal yield for the State, and in the
past ore bale has been considered a phe-